“I believe it to be true that I, by accident, cannot clearly
explain such,” replied Alixhlìnye, who kept being politely courteous enough to
one of the Slave Kindreds, “because I cannot, by chance, understand the
beginning myself, as dear I, being so many sizes and widths in a confusing day,
am very confused.”

“As for the Sorcerer of the Forest Galaxy, the master, who
is tutor to me and my same-sex siblings and opposite-sex siblings, and who
takes care of us,” chanted Alixhlìnye, “he informed me, telling me that you
Traîkhiim can both enter the dreamlands of deeper sleep and wrap yourselves up
in chrysalis cocoons.

He chanted that your folk could sprout wingfins like
thìpfhitlhir flittermice, and great ivory tushes, and scales, and feathers like
cloud-gathering Rainbow Serpents, and even butterfly wingfins.When you metamorphose, I should think you’ll
feel a little peculiar, right?”

Alixhlìnye felt that she was being teased a little, as the
Traîkhiim, on purpose, spoke brusquely, saying brief remarks, like proverbs,
and she stood up en pointe, as she chanted, very gravely, “I think that you
ought to tell me your name first.”

This, here was another question for racking one’s brain,
and, as Alixhlìnye could not do any thinking for any good reason, and, as the
cyclopean Traîkhiim seemed to be in a rather mysterious state in his mind, she
turned herself away.

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Hwæt, welcome to the myth of the Dreamtime, Glossopoeia, the Land of Story! These are the pages of the story of Puîyus the Warrior Lad and the Starflower Princess Éfhelìnye. Almost every day a few new pages are added, and friends of the Land are invited to help in crafting and shaping the story and language.

Puey and the Princess beside the Waterfall

Puîye’ aqhuss Sàraxim xotrantheyoâta

Beware!

Please beware of Pirates and Dragons and Princesses and Clockwork Automata and Lords and Ladies and Officers and Māccuahuitl wielding soldiers and Æronauts and Messengers and Attendents and Sylvan Priests and Aliens of all sorts, not to mention the Emlalàqta and the Pèrithe and the Xeriîqe and the Xhàkhmat and the Qhíng and the Kháfha and the Khlitsaîyart and the Khmàfhlort and the Qája and the Qriî and the Traîkhiim and the Ptètqiikh and the Qlùfhem Aûm and the Fhlóla and the Kajúju and the Xhùqhenoin and the Xhnatàsti and the Tlhiqimíkhe and the Xelòrkhta and the Jòrfha and the Fhétha and the Wthòrthna and the Khnèrthem and the Àrkelor Über·Qhíng and the Fhliî and the Khòjhwa and the Sòjhwa and the Pokhexháqa and the Jongèrya and the Xhrùmpum and the Squîsar and the Sufhàltii and the Xaxhestàriqhe and the Qrìkhasat and the Xhmàsqor and the Kurkuîlo and the Fhlùltekh and the Xhmaûmumum and the Khnenyènwa and the Lwàlyas and the Thùlwu Aûm and the Jhèngqekh and the Xhlaûxher and the Tájo and the Xhyaîqtekh and the Syìplet and many, many others, in addition to the Seven Castes and various Merchants and Damsels needing to be rescued and Chorus Girls and Eunuchs and Imperial Mad Scientists and the Warlord from beyond the Quarantine and the Immortals themselves, and the endless Spirits, Wraiths, Ancestors, and Raven’s billion crystalline Dreams, the Coryphæus and the Hula Quire of Ravens.

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A Summary of the First Chapter

In the Dreamtime, in the Land of Story, where language is alive, the Cælestial Emperor and Empress have ruled in peace the endless quadrillion, quadrillion souls of the Winter Empire for almost one hundred million years. The Emperor and the Empress were the source of all life and energy and brought fertility to the land. It was the Golden Age, a time of peace and plenty. The only blemish upon this paradise was that the Emperor and Empress were childless and the Dreamtime without an heir.Upon the first day of spring, at the end of the Golden Age, their only child was born to them, a Princess they named . When the sylvan priests drew up the birth auguries for her they learned that she was destined to destroy her Father the Emperor and all the Winter Empire of the Dreamtime. Try as they may, the will of the Immortals was implacable. The deathless gods bade the Emperor to slay his newly born child. He considered. The Emperor, rather than obey the Immortals, slew all the priests who knew of the prophecy save for his Father-in-law, , and knew that his doom was nigh.Shortly thereafter the Great War began and changed all the Winter Empire. Endless years of peace came to an end, and a generation was lost upon the crimson sands of Tsànyun. The Emperor’s chief Holy Rose Knight and Assassin-Executioner Sieur fought valiantly for his liege. But it was not enough. The war was a font of endless sorrows. The Empress mysteriously passed away. The Winter Empire survived, but just barely. Nothing was the same. When the Empress died, the Emperor cursed the land, and no new children could be born, nor could any new marriages be celebrated. At the end of the Great War the Emperor had all the folk of Tsànyun slaughtered, except for three princes he saved for a special purpose. Then he returned to his Holy City and slaughtered most of the servants in his Ice Palace. The last action the Emperor did before he disappeared was to bade Sieur Íngìkhmar, his faithful servant, to return to the Holy City upon a matter of honor upon his Son’s eleventh starday. Then the Emperor cast all of his Holy City into winter, into ritual mourning for the Empress, and none have seen him since. His daughter, the Princess Éfhelìnye he took and imprisoned her within the Forbidden Gardens, deep within the Ice Palace, upon ensorcelled islands surrounded by seas of dragons and dragon flames and hidden somewhere within the Emperor’s imagination.

The book begins upon the first hour upon the first day of autumn upon that day when Sieur Íngìkhmar returns to the Emperor’s Holy City when his Son is to celebrated his eleventh starday. All the events in this book take place in a single hour, the one that the Real People of the Dreamtime call the Darkness before the Dawn.Starflower Princess Éfhelìnye has only seen her Father the Emperor twice in her life. She dwells in the Hidden Gardens with her a large dodo bird. Her Grandfather Pátifhar visits her from time to time when he is not busy training Puîyus, Íngìkhmar’s Son. Great Uncle Táto and Grandfather Pátifhar have been commanded never to permit anyone to enter the gardens, nor to expose her to music. She is a ballerina, an artist, and a creater or words. But all of her life the Princess has been having strange dreams about a boy her own age, a lad who lives in a distant land from beyond the northwind. She dreams of Puîyus of course, called by his friends and family. She awakens from disturbing dreams of her Father and sneaks out of the cabin. Her Tutor finds her and tells her that her Grandfather will soon be returning for important visitors have come to the Palace, but her Grandfather will have to be leaving her to accompany them. She grows afraid thinking she will never see her Grandfather again, and she runs away into unexplored regions of the gardens.Meanwhile in her dreams Éfhelìnye sees that Puîyus has been having strange dreams of his own. When he was very young dragons had come sneaking out from the Emperor’s thoughts and memories and come flying upon the garthlands of Jaràqtu. The dragons chased Puîyus onto holy land, even accursed dreamlands, unto tombs that living men may not touch. Puîyus was trapped. He took a sword, almost by accident, and slew the dragon. As the dragon died it revealed that the Emperor was intending something with Puîyus. The people of Jaràqtu marvelled that this young child was already a dragon slayer. So Éfhelìnye was dreaming. But upon this day, some years later, in the dreams within dreams, it was a very sad day indeed. The matriarch of Puîyus’ family has passed away and all were in mourning. It is especially sad since all the families of the land are declining, now that no more children can be born. Puîyus takes the loss to heart. He has never spoken before in his life and so cannot verbalize his grief, but all of the animals can understand him. All the denizens of the forest, field, and hill arise and sympathize with him. For although he does not talk, he has the strength of beasts and communicates with them in their own language. The clan is busy for it must prepare funeral games and the rites of internment itself before they can return to the Emperor’s Holy City Eilasaîyanor as the Emperor bade them eleven years ago. Puîyus’ three Sisters have plans of their own on what they’ll do in the City. the oldest wants to find new pie ingredients. She loves to cook. , the middle sister has heard rumors that during the Great Peace the Emperor used to make toys for all the good children of the worlds, and she wants to find the Emperor’s lost toys. , the youngest sister, wants the Emperor to permit more children to be born. As the youngest child she’s always on the bottom of the hierarchy and bossed around by everyone else. She dreams of being able to boss someone else around in turn. Puîyus usually dreams of being a pirate. In the funeral games for his grandmother Puîyus takes little part and lets his older cousins win the glory. After the games comes the funeral and the Elders lament the end of the days of peace. So appear the dreams and memories of Puîyus, the Knight’s Son.All this Princess Éfhelìnye sees and creates in pictures, upon loose leaves of paper, and upon the flowing strand while she runs away from her guardians. She notices something strange. Weird beings are appearing and flowing upon the edge of the gardens. All the while she thinks she created Puîyus and his family, or perchance they are images created by her Father, formed from his imagination.Puîyus’ family, the , make ready to leave for the Holy City. The starday is nigh. The sylvan priests are drawing up their auguries and learn that tomorrow is the day the Emperor has appointed. They make ready their sacrifice. During the rite the Sweqhàngqu children are bickering all the while and trying to get packed. They have to put on formal and stiff clothing. Everyone gathers upon the fields. The hoop dancers have come. The children have to kneel in the back while the priests bring sacrificial animals. Puîyus distracts himself with ducklings and dinosaurlings. The will of the Immortals is appeased when the victims are slain. The pathway is forming towards the Holy City. Sieur Íngìkhmar gathers his children together into a covered wagon and they ride off unto the edge of their realm where rings of fire arise, a spell formed by bloodshed, a spell that becomes a ship of crystals and flame. It takes the Sweqhàngqu family and translates them through thought and memory unto the Holy City Eilasaîyanor.

The Sweqhàngqu arrive upon the night before the first day of autumn. Grandfather Pátifhar sends a message informing the holy Sylvanhood of their arrival. He and Sieur Íngìkhmar decide to take the children unto a formal restaurant, for they don’t think any servants are still alive in the Ice Palace to prepare them food. So the barbarian children experience high culture for the first time and see the hundreds of alien folk that dwell within the Winter Empire. Princess Éfhelìnye dreams of this, or perchance invents it, and within the memories of the gardens she sees the aliens all about her, as her own creations of ink and word. A dragon appears to her, or perchance her Father. She draws a thought or memory from it. The memory becomes paper, a mandala, and is lost among the various aliens. Meanwhile outside the formal restaurant, those two illustrious pirates and are hard at work. They are supposed to be working on an assignment for their Patron, the Lord from Beyond. They were hired from some noble house. But the pirates have heard a rumor that once long ago the Emperor lost a memory, a mandala, and they assume that it must lead to a place or time of fabulous wealth. They find the mandala amongst the aliens upon the piers and run for their lives into the resturant and just barely miss accosting the Sweqhàngqu family. The Sweqhàngqu family has been having its own misadventures this entire time. Fhermáta has insisted upon helping the cooks and taken over the kitchens. Puîyus tries to set free the fish and animals in the kitchens. Many of the alien patrons are unhappy to see that the barbarians have returned to the Emperor’s City after eleven years. Some resent Íngìkhmar for he was the Emperor’s chief assassin-executioner, and some sneak out to inform their allies that the knight has finally returned. Little Akhlísa bumps into an alien family that is quite sad because no children can be born into any land. Dinner comes to an end. The pirates sneak off in one direction with the Emperor’s lost memory, while the Sweqhàngqu family leaves in the other direction and head towards the great Ice Palace. But officials of the City have been warned. Among the nobles the Lord from Beyond, the pirates’ patron gives an order and ninja scouts slither down to slay Íngìkhmar and his family before they reach the Emperor’s palace.There is an assassination attempt. Sieur Íngìkhmar, riding his faithful velociraptor fights long and hard. It is a long planned assassination plot. He is separated from his family. Puîyus was order to bring his sisters unto the Palace. Íngìkhmar fights a great battle. At the last moment Grandfather Pátifhar returns and saves the children. Sieur Íngìkhmar surives the battle. But the adults realize tha tsince the Emperor has been missing for eleven years in ritual mourning, that other forces are taking control. The family enters the Ice Palace, the first visitors in eleven years, and it becomes the first hour of the day, the darkness before the dawn.Early in the first hour Fhermáta awakens her other siblings. She is excited because day is his starday too and she expects presents. She wanders away and tries to find where the presents are hidden. Neither Siêthiyal nor Akhlísa have actually bothered to get their sister a present. Siêthiyal uses this an excuse to coerce her younger sister into helping her find the Emperor’s lost toys. Puîyus, meanwhile, also awakens early. He is troubled for the mourning of the Holy City reminds him of the death of their grandmother. He wanders deep into the emptiness of the palace. Strange memories, strange dreams arise about him, flowing through the palace. By accident he comes across vast tractless wastes and dragons and finds a way to traverse through seas of fire and wind. Without knowing it he slips through the Emperor’s imagination and comes marvelous islands. Here he enters the Emperor’s thoughts, his kaleidoscopic time, and possibilities and thoughts and myths open up unto him. He and Princess Éfhelìnye meet each other in various times and circumstances. Once he is a shepherd, once a hero, another time a freer of slaves. At length he comes unto the fields and birds and whales inform him of a maiden who dwells within. So he finds the Princess, and not only does the girl know quite a bit about him but she can understand his wordless language of glances and sighs.Éfhelìnye through her dreams and memories knows that Puîyus has never spoke a word in his life. She is afraid because she has just learned that if a child does not speak by his twelfth year, the priests will take him away to be a burnt sacrifice. In her ebullient enthusiasm she resolves to teach Puîyus language. She convinces him to help her escape the hidden gardens. Puîyus has noticed the monsters gathering in the fields and agrees because he fears for her safety. And so it is that the children of the land first sinned against the Emperor. Puîyus and Éfhelìnye try to escape the gardens several times and each time they think they’ve left the islands they find themselves back where they began. Puîyus has to hide when someone comes. It is Great Uncle Táto returning, and he finds the Princess suffering from dream fevers. At least when the dodo is gone, Puîyus discovers a way to sail among the dragons that ever guard the gardens. When the dragons are about to turn upon them Puîyus plays music, and the music charms them. So the Emperor’s commandments are broken, for he had forbidden music in his Palace and forbade the Princess to have any visitors. So it was that they escaped the forbidden gardens.

Meanwhile Puîyus’ sisters have been having their own adventures. Fhermáta comes across a lost alien delegation come to visit the Emperor and bring him treasure and tribute. Siêthiyal and Akhlísa find automata that the Emperor’s mad scientist has been making. The mad scientist is one of the princes of Tsànyun that the Emperor spared eleven years ago, and he has not forgotten the horrors done to his people. But the sisters are unsuccessful in their quests at finding pie ingredients and lost toys, respectively.Puey and the Princess, as soon as they leave the gardens and enter the greater environs of the Palace bump right into Sieur Íngìkhmar. At once he understands what the children do not, for he sees the doom that has fallen upon his family. For Puîyus in his innocence has looked upon the face of the Emperor’s daughter, and Íngìkhmar knows the punishment for seeing her is death, even crucifixion upon the claw. He bids his Son to prepare himself in his best finery, for his death, and hopes the Emperor in his mercy will at least permit Puîyus to be offered as a sacrifice unto the deathless gods. But Íngìkhmar is faithful to the Emperor even unto the end. In the days of the great peace he would patrol upon the edge of the hours and fight dæmons that creep from between the hours. Íngìkhmar rides out to prepare the way for dawntide. While riding about the great towers he discovers a stowaway, for Princess Éfhelìnye has hidden upon the sacks of his howdah. She watches as Sieur Íngìkhmar fights dæmons upon the pinnacles of the Palace. He brings her back, but the Princess finds Puîyus and convinces him to sneak out with him for she has seen something that she thinks may interest him.Now those illustrious pirates Fhèrkifher and Xhnófho are finally obeying the word of their patron and snatching something from a noble house. Their patron is the same one who engineered the assassination attempt against the Puîyus’ family and who has coopted the imperial mad scientist, but the pirates know nothing of this. Puîyus and Éfhelìnye break into the castle and bump into the rascals. Puîyus is overjoyed to meet real Pirates. Fhèrkifher and Xhnófho try to get rid of the pesky kids, but Puîyus’ præternatural strength comes in handy in a fight when he saves the pirates. Éfhelìnye tries to convince Fhèrkifher and Xhnófho to take Puîyus as their apprentice pirate. At the last moment Fhèrkifher and Xhnófho escape, and Puîyus and Éfhelìnye sneak back to the Palace. For everything was changing.All things were awakening and dawning. The Palace was coming back to life after eleven years of mourning. Endless thousands upon thousands were gathering. Tribute and sacrifice was being brought froward into the scented courts. Endless folk were coming and hoping that the Emperor would permit new marriages to be celebrated and for children to be born again. Everyone was getting read. At this time Íngìkhmar rides out again and leaves the palace to fulfill his final mission. For a lord of the City has been playing music of the beloved fallen Empress, and such it is death to do. Íngìkhmar slays him and returns. Dawnlight is coming.Princess Éfhelìnye, however, has had her first experience with freedom. She wants to visit the billion realms of the Empire with Puîyus, the first friend she’s e'er had. She meets Puîyus’ Sisters. Fhermáta sees her as an odd waif who doesn’t know how to cook or anything important like that. Siêthiyal sees her as someone who can help her find lost toys and possibly exploit. Akhlísa sees her as an ally against the other two sisters. The sisters are shocked when the learn that she is no mere Princess of noble caste, but of the divine family itself and they all promise keep her secret, if the Emperor, of course, permits them to live. Within the vast scented courts before the throneroom Éfhelìnye finds the pirates, for they were finally captured and brought as prisoners to be executed. The pirates give her the mandala, the Emperor’s lost memory, which they think will take them to fabulous wealth, and tell her that if they escape they’ll teach Puîyus to be a real pirate.The Sweqhàngqu family are finally brought before the Emperor’s presence upon the matter of honor, as the Emperor had bade Íngìkhmar to do eleven years ago at the end of the Great War. So Princess Éfhelìnye sees her Father for the third time in her life. The strain is too much for her. She succumbs to dream fevers anew. She has a terrible vision of her Father as the lord of all death and slaying all the land. She has a vision of the death of Puîyus. Yet the Emperor himself steps into the dream fevers before they can consume her, and they shatter around him. Time and memory blossom before her. She learns that her Mother the Empress mysteriously died. She realizes that she must somehow learn to understand her Father, the Lord of Earth, Sea, and Sky.Princess Éfhelìnye awakens. The Emperor has banished the dream fevers from her. He expels darkness and fills the worlds with blinding dawnlight. Everything is good upon this, the first day of autumn. The Emperor tells her to go and play with her new friends while he and Sieur Íngìkhmar and Great Uncle Táto and Grandfather Pátifhar discuss boring adult matters, for they have to discover who ordered and planned the assassination attempt and why and find the source of the chaos in the Holy City. The children walk out into the miracle of dawn, the second hour. Fhermáta is more determined than ever to find some novel pie ingredients. Siêthiyal thinks somehow she can still discover the Emperor’s lost toys. Little Akhlísa tags along. Princess Éfhelìnye for her part has an actual pirate treasure mandala and wants to help Puîyus become a pirate. She daydreams about Puîyus and thinks that he would make a great Emperor. She kisses him on the cheek and his blush becames the dawn of all the worlds.“I think I have a plan,” she says.

Psalm of Dreams

Oh! What a glorious dream it will be,To have you here right beside me.And time would stop, just a bit, just a while,So that we could just sit and talk.Oh! What a view such sights we will see,The sun, moon and stars in great harmony.And time would stop, just a bit, just a while,So that we could just sit and watch.Oh! What sweet fragrances hang in the air,All of our favorite flowers are there.And time would stop, just a bit, just a while,So that we could just sit and enjoy.Oh! What a patriotic song we will sing,A ballad to heroes our voices will bring.And time would stop, just a bit, just a while,So that we could just sit and praise.Oh! What a glorious dream it will be,To have you here right beside me.And time would stop, just a bit, just a while,So that we could just sit and dream.

Xhlúroro Pápileiyùlkha

KHLEJAXÚQEIYÒMPAN XHRIR KHLÌJHA

A Draft of Princess Éfhelìnye’s Compleat Babel Lexicon

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”Simplest song, there’s nothin’ much to it, All you’ve got to do is doodle-ee-do it!”